Be A Good Mom

You all know I love my baby carriers.

Here is Giggles in the pouch sling, age 2 months.

Here is our curent Ring Sling.

I also used an Ultimate Baby Wrap while Pookie and Giggles were young. I had a Baby Bjorn and used it exactly once before I pitched it. UBW, pouch and ring sling good. Baby Bjorn bad.

If I can overcome my fear of the economy, I am going to buy a new kind of sling for Giggles someday. An Asian style back carrier. I am just learning about these, but I like the idea of Giggles getting a fun ride, a better view and it being easy on my body as she gets heavier.

Here is a link to Twilli Pie Designs, maker of Korean style Podegi Baby Carriers, functionality with a funky flair. Check them out.

(can you imagine how cool I would be if I wore a Podegi to Geetle and Pookie’s Kyuki-Do class? Master Kim might let them use the Bo staff, eventhough they are only white-belts.)

Background: I work for a large property and casualty insurance company. “Casualty” does not mean life insurance, it means third party liability. You slip on a banana peel under the display at Super Walmart, you sue Walmart for the cost of your medical bills….Walmart has a liability policy that covers that scenario. That’s casualty.

More background: I work in the Umbrella Casualty department, which means I am concerned with those super large liability claims, such as you own an office building and choose to nail shut all the fire escape doors. The building catches fire and no one can get out of the building. The families of all those who die in the fire sue you. I would not want to be your Umbrella insurance provider…because that is a huge claim….like several millions of dollars times the number of people who sue. I don’t care if the building burns down, I care that everyone got out, so no one will sue you. Sure, some other department cares about the cost to rebuild the building….but not me.

Just a bit more background: My company moved 50 jobs from IL to AZ recently, a whole department, not mine. We have a ghost town on one half of the office suite, where all those people used to sit. Its being subleased, but before the new tenant moves in, our employee sunshine committee decided we should play miniture golf over there. So every department made a hole. This is my departments’:

The sign above the door on teh doll house says “Fire, Fire! Did everyone get out safely? Good. I am sure the Fire Department will be here soon. Or not, whatever.” Get it? Woooohhhoooo! We insurance people are funny!

Anyway, here is Geetle and Pookie (with Giggles cheering them on) making their way through the 9 hole golf course.

I am not sure what the par was for the course, I forgot to look. But there were 9 holes so probably 25-30?

Geetle shot a 73
Pookie shot a 57, but choose to skip the 6th hole entirely. Gave it one look and walked away.

We had a nice time at our party in WI today. I will write about it soon . I only have a minute because BAGD is pretending to be doing real work and won’t let me have the computer.

But here is a picture of Pookie, Geetle, Belaina and T-man playing in a $700 sandbox. Papa says that is how much this pile of animal feed costs. Personally, I do not know much about agricultural product prices, but I think he might have gotten ripped off. This pile is barely big enough for 4 kids to slide down. It should have cost $250, tops.

Jason McElwain, basketball hero.

I am getting tired of sweeping up pennies with alll the Cheerios under the dining room table and seeing Pookie shove quarters down the furnace registers just to hear the “clink clink.” My house is appraised at $250,000, but the real value is $250,009.34 when you consider all the coins in the duct work.

Geetle is beginning to understand the concept of money. She has some of the facts wrong. She refers to all coins as “monies” and all bills are “dollars.” Having 4 one dollar bills is better than having 1 five dollar bill….since 4 is bigger than 1. But she is learning. But having money is only fun for a minute or two, until she loses interest. Then her monies end up at the bottom of the toy box or in the closet.

To encourage her understanding of money and that it has value, I took the kids to McDonalds. I told them if they could find enough money on the floor of the car and in the cracks of their carseats, I would buy them juiceboxes. They both hunted, although I think Pookie was just having fun hunting, not really understanding the reward.

They found enough and got their juiceboxes. The next day we cleaned the house and I told Geetle her job was to collect all the real money and save it for our trip to Cincinnati. As I cleaned, I would yell “Real Money!” and she would come running with her dixie cup to collect the pennies I found in the couch or in the basket where we throw the mail.

She had fun and I think she gets it. I am trying to make her understand that money is valuable and that you should not just throw it in the toy box.

On Sunday, we are taking our lemonade stand to Grandma’s BBQ. We are supposed to be donating the money to the animal shelter, but would it be wrong if I let her and Pookie keep some? The whole point of the Take A Stand campaign from Sunkist (where we got out lemonade stand from) was to teach kids about charity. But how can I teach them about charity when they are just learning that money has value at all? I am trying to work on a lesson here. Maybe a TIP jar for her and Pookie? What do you think?

wii sporst
prove it
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THEENDD

Perhaps I have mentioned to you that I have a crafting problem.
When I decided to make flannel pj pants for Pookie and Geetle….I made 15 pair.
When I learned how to make fun character pillow cases, I made a dozen.
When I decided to take up loom knitting, I made over 20 hats.

I have been trying to branch out. Recently, I made Baby Dollard, a rag quilt for my cousin Jackie and her new baby, an eye glasses case for Geetle which hangs on the wall next to her bed, foam blocks for Giggles, a drawstring backpack for Geetle, and a cloth book for Giggles. One of each of these things. One. Only one.

But I continue to be drawn to one thing….stuffed rabbits. I also made 4 stuffed rabbits recently. Giggles has 2, Geetle and 1, and I gave 1 away. That’s probably enough stuffed rabbits, right?

No. I will probably make more. I like the comfort of a predictable pattern. And I want to make one in a cowboy vest, not sure why, but I think its the next one coming. Then maybe one in a 1950’s style apron. Real frilly.

So, what do I do with them? I am begging the Toy Society to let me in. The Toy Society drops cute little homemade toys all over the world and if you find it, you get to keep it! It sounds like they are just getting started, but I like the idea. I sent them an email tonite. I hope they let me do a bunny drop. I don’t to be known as “The Crazy Bunny Lady.”

According to Real Simple Magazine, a good way to save money is to buy things out of season, when they are cheaper. Their ideas are sound, but I thought more about this topic. It’s almost the end of Summer, is it a good idea to buy those 50% off flip flops and shorts now, saving them for next year? I have enough flip flops and shorts to last me through this Summer, so if I was to buy them, it would have to be a borrow against next year’s flip flops and shorts allocation. Is that a good idea?

Will they fit?
Will I be able to find them?
Is storing them for 9 months worth saving $2?

Is buying things in advance a good idea, or does it cause us to use more/buy more than we would have used/bought if it was full price. Follow my logic….. when you pay $9 for a bottle of pricey salon shampoo, you use it carefully, sparingly, with respect for its value. When you pay $2 for a cheap brand, you squeeze a half cup into the tub as an impromptu bubble bath for the kids, am I right? At the end of the day, which is cheaper per use? The $9 or the $2? I don’t know, that’s math. But I do know that I *feel* like I am being more responsible with the $9 one.

If I find a pair of sandals that I LOVE, and I pay $50 for them, I will probably wear them all summer. If I find a $50 pair marked down to $10, but they are a bit pinchy and not really a color that goes with everything, but I buy them anyway(…because who can walk away from an 80% discount!), I will probably wear them once, be all proud of my bargain, brag to a few people and then never wear them again. Doesn’t that happen to you too?

So, should I be buying those $2.99 clearance sun dresses for Giggles and $1 acrylic glasses on the Summer rack at Meijer? I say no. Buying those things now is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Its buying for sake of buying. The fun of buying. The fun of a bargain, even one you don’t need. I say its cheaper in the long run to buy what you need, when you need it. Sure, looking back maybe you could have saved a few bucks buying off season, but what about all the money you waste doing that? What about all those sundresses that don’t fit or you can’t find, or that are not as cute as the full price ones next Spring? I say you will come out ahead if you just wait and buy less.

I guess there are exceptions to the rule. You should buy what you KNOW you will use. Everyone has to be their own judge of that. For me, I am trying to buy things only when I need them. That works out best for me.

But you knew it was bound to happen eventually.

One does not accept the position of 5 year old boy’s best friend without expecting to get thrown up on at least once. Sorry it happened so early in the game. And sorry it happened twice.

Enjoy your Maytag spa treatment.